The heat health burden on First Nations communities in under-resourced remote Australia

To date, Australian heat health impact studies have focused on heat related thresholds for mortality and hospital and emergency service utilisation across Australia. There has been limited evidence on how heat affects First Nations people living in remote Australia. Hot weather-related health impacts remain largely unknown for remote Australia, as local Primary Health Care (PHC) clinics are the first point of medical contact for most remote populations, rather than hospitals and other emergency services. This means the actual heat related health impacts on remote Australians will be evident through the analysis of PHC records and a synthesis of lived and work experiences of remote First Nations residents and remote PHC staff. This project will be the first of its kind to collect and collate evidence on the impacts of extreme hot temperatures on remote First Nations residents of Australia living across different climate zones. It will generate new evidence to inform appropriate, timely and context-related policy responses that may be transferable across similar settings.